One on One (Max)

[Jonny]

Jonny pulled up in the Gustav just short of the rim of the crater - they didn't call it deep for nothing that was for sure. He got out the crane on the Gustav, before hooking up his Saberlion, then lowering the zoid and him in it down into the crater.
He considered the options of what the battle could be like. Do to the small grains of sand and dirt on all sides, climbing up and out of the crater was a no go, and everything naturally dipped down into the center - save for a few hundred meters of flat land.
"Nice to see you again, forgot to ask your name."

[xX Max Xx]

[/b] muttered Max in a tone of irritation, still remembering the foul joke his opponent-to-be had pulled. He approached the destination, though he was already in his Zoid seeing as he himself had no transport vehicle. As he saw the opponent enter the field with a Saberlion, he would step forward and switch on the communication link.

"My name's Max, and what you did yesterday wasn't cool man!" yelled the youth through his Zoid, the Houndsoldier letting out a slight growl to denote it shared its pilot's anger. After all, you messed with its precious owner, then you messed with it. Max would furrow his eyebrows, waiting for the go to fight.

"Remember our bet!" he yelled once more, knowing that his opponent couldn't have forgotten. [/size][/ul][/ul]

[Jonny]

Jonny remembered perfectly, "Yeah, loser joins the winner's team. And since you told me your name, I'll give you mine - Jonny. Now wheres that judge capsule..." He said looking around before seeing a little twinkle in the sky, before realising the thing hadn't even dropped yet.
"GET BACK!" He yelled as the Judge Capsule came down like a meteor, the impact blowing the Saberlion off its feet. Getting the zoid back up, he groaned, "ZBC could warn us about how hard those things are gonna come down... geez." He then got his Saberlion back into position as the judge capsule unfolded, revealing the robot inside who would referee todays match.

"Warning, Warning. The area within a 30 mile radius is a restricted zoids battle zone. All unauthorized personnel are to leave the area IMMEDIATELY! Scanning... Scanning... Battle Field Set up. Zoids Battle mode 0992. Ready... FIGHT!" The judge then crossed its arms to announce the battle had begun.
Jonny didn't hesitate, putting his zoid into high gear from the get go, charging straight for the enemy zoid. He began charging up the High Friction claws, which generated friction to both heat them up and aid in cutting through objects - like armour!
"HIGH FRICTION CLAW!" He yelled as the Saberlion leaped at the HoundSoldier.

[xX Max Xx]

[/b] yelled Max, making his Houndsoldier withdraw backwards to avoid the explosive landing of the Judge. He sighed, checking his Zoid's statistics to see if it was alright. That Jonny kid was right, they seriously needed to warn people when they were going to do that. Once that was over, he would make his Houndsoldier stand ready to begin once the Judge initiated the battle.

Once the Judge crossed its arms, Max decided to let Jonny strike first, with the boy actually went for. With such a direct charge, Max would kick his Houndsoldier into gear, jumping to the side once the lion Zoid went in for the claw strike. However, he wouldn't let his opponent go without a counter. As his opponent passed him, he would lung in for a strike to its side, attempting to bite the Saberlion.

"Bite Fang--!!"[/ul][/ul][/size]

[Jonny]

Jonny watched as his zoid's attack was dodged by Max, well blue hair certainly had some skill to him, but what really caught Jonny's eye was the fact Max was countering with his zoids fangs!
"Crud. Activating-" He then stopped his hand before it hit the switch, should he really pull out his trump card so early? Better it stay hidden for a little longer, so he was gonna have to improvise.
Ducking his zoid down slightly, Jonny ended up making the thing that the Houndsoldier's fangs dug into was none other than the Saberlion's blade! He then had the blade flip out, and thus it would - hopefully - cause the houndsoldier to get flung with it.

[xX Max Xx]

[/i]

"I got him?" questioned Max, looking at his monitor to see that his Houndsoldier's fangs merely clasped on the blade that was sheathed in the head of the Saberlion. As the blade came forward, it would meet with difficulty. The blade would not only find it hard to leave the zoid's head, finding it was pressed against a one-hundred and thrity-two thousand pound machine. While it attempted such, Max would have the Houndsoldier fire off its triple barreled gun. The Saberlion would certainly find difficulty avoiding the shots with it's head caught in a hold by the Houndsoldier.[/size][/ul][/ul]

[Jonny]

Jonny realised the idiot move of trying to throw a zoid that weighed more than triple his when the zoids circuits began to overheat. He shut down the top blade immediately for the time being.
Then he heard the shots, all three of them. Then again they hit right outside the cockpit - why wouldn't he? He could see his screens blare up with details of damage, forward left leg was down by 25%, and thus he activated automatic equalisers so as not to overload.
"Cheeky, you could've blown me to bits." He said as he unfolded the Saberlion's two side blades, one of which's path went straight into the Houndsoldier.

[DogTrot]

OOC: Okay, I've been asked to post what I think happened.

Jonny's blade will indeed hit the Houndsoldier, the side one, but since the Houndsoldier is taller it won't have to be pressed in close, and the blade will only skim. In addition, the high-friction action on the blade will not have activated, so it is just flat cold metal, probably just flinging him off. Light hit, zoids separate, battle onwards!

[xX Max Xx]

[/b] Muttere Max with a slight smirk, but then he would see the blades deploy. The Houndsoldier's grip on the Saberlion's blade would be released, as the other blade deployed. Max knew he couldn't avoid it, but at least he could escape with it skimming him. As he moved the Houndsoldier back, he would hear the damage alert pop up, but he ignored it as he fired off a missle at the Saberlion.

Upon landing, he would pull up the damage, checking the scream. He knew there would be damaged, but he had to check it for the alerts to stop. He furrowed his eyebrows, seeing that the guy had damaged the Houndsoldier's Three-Barreled Burst Cannon.

"That was a good hit." Max complemented. He decided not to worry about the damaged cannons, making the Houndsoldier begin to sprint around the Zoid in a circle as it recovered from its damage. He made sure to stay six meters away from the Zoid, making sure to move at a speed the zoid couldn't turn to keep up with, especially with its damaged leg.[/ul][/ul][/size]

[Jonny]

Jonny smirked as it looked like he FINALLY got a hit in on his opponent's zoid, only for a missile to hit the rear left leg, lowering its output by 25% as well, thus forcing Jonny to equalise, and leaving the zoids movement at 75% the norm.
"Real funny guy aren't you? Though now I really want you on my team - letting anyone else have you could be dangerous." He laughed.
Then the Houndsoldier started circling him...
"Okay... you know what... screw it!" He yelled as he ran straight forward towards the slopes of the crater, and began to run up them. He then began to follow the slopes around in a circle, just barely managing to avoid his zoid slipping on the small grains of dirt, sand, and debris.
"C'mon Saber, keep going, we're almost there." He said as he then began to run up and down the slopes as it ran, seemingly trying to cover the entire area. Hopefully Max wouldn't notice that the High Friction claws - which were hopefully covered by the said various grains of material - were on full.

[xX Max Xx]

[/b] Muttered Max, smirking a bit. Well, he thought Jonny was building up speed to strengthen his next strike. Essentially, that's exactly what he was doing. Max just didn't know it was a high friction claw. At any rate, Max had an idea on just how to stop him. He would take aim, firing missiles a meter ahead of it. The missile would blow a dirt gap into the surface, leaving a space for the Saberlion to lose its footing and fall.

He would force the Houndsoldier to rush in after the missile, keeping his focus on his opponent as he maneuvered the Houndsoldier forward. He pondered his next move, something he rarely did. Most of this stuff seriously came off the bat, but he managed to get on in his battles.

"You're doing well, Weiss. We just have to keep up buddy." Said Max to his zoid, finding it necessary to compliment his Zoid. After all, he saw his Hounsoldier as a companion more than just a weapon.[/ul][/ul][/sup]

[Jonny]

Jonny watched as several missiles began to fly just ahead of his Saberlion, perfect. He'd already ran on the part of the slope the missiles were firing at, his heated high friction claws having turned the sand into none other - than glass!
The missiles exploded, shards were thrown into the air, reflecting and intensifying the sun's light, creating a make shift flare. Blinded himself by it, Jonny had to look down at his console and use navigation sensors instead of his own eyes as he piloted his zoid down towards Max, who was - with any luck - himself blinded by the light, and would give Jonny a chance to try and make a worthwhile hit.
Unfolding the Saberlion's side high friction blades once more, Jonny charged at his opponent, before ducking down - turning up the blades to full power - to try and slash through the legs of Max's zoid.

[xX Max Xx]

[/b] Muttered the young pilot as he fired off a missile, assuming he managed to pin down the Saberlion by its side blade.
[/ul][/ul][/sup]

[Jonny]

Jonny thought he'd finally gotten in a solid hit - no dice. Instead he found the Houndsoldier dodging to the side, then pressing down on the Saberlion's blade, and due to the large difference in weight, this caused the Saberlion's blade to be stuck in the ground whilst the zoid was caught at a 75 degrees angle with the Saberlion's top facing the Houndsoldier. Wait... the top?
And as if fate were throwing him a lifeline, the computers displayed a message saying, 'Head blade system repaired.' This was critical. And by critical, that was REALLY critical, as the Saberlion took another beating from the Houndsoldier's second missile of the match, damaging the Saberlion's armour.
He charged up the third high friction blade, which resided on the Saberlion's head, and had nearly overheated itself earlier trying to throw the houndsoldier, and thus had to cool down. Now it was ready though. And since the blade was approximately 5 meters long, if he unfolded it, the path of it would be blocked by the Houndsoldier. Perfect.
He breathed for a few seconds, then unfolded the blade.

[xX Max Xx]

[/b] Muttered Max, as he remembered the HiFriction blade atop the Saberlion's head. He would make his Houndsoldier duck, however the blad would still manage to skin the top, cleaving off the hound's two ears. The damage pulled up in the console, but Max ignored it. The ears could be replaced any time after the fight, so why worry?

At any rate, Max would make the Houndsoldier raise its heade high, pushing against the extended blade of the Saberlion. He was attempting to break one of the blades off, the one under his Houndsoldier's paw. As he did this, another missile was fired.

"Eat this!" [/ul][/ul][/sup]